The Pathetically Jealous Man, Chapter 4.1
CHAPTER 4.1
“Wow, what the hell? It’s a total mess in here.”
Seonho, who had come to visit Taesup’s house in far too high spirits, handed his friend a bag of medicine and smiled mischievously as he lifted a crumpled jacket off the sofa. Then, seeing the haggard look on Taesup’s face, he softened..
“Jeez, your face is a mess too… Are you sleeping at all?”
Taesup’s worn face had baggy, dark circles, and the eyes above them looked empty and lifeless.
Taesup tried to say something as he sat up on the sofa but could only sneeze repeatedly and wipe his nose on the blanket that covered his large body. In fact, he had nothing to say in response. He had already told Seonho about the dire situation over the phone.
Maybe because he couldn’t sleep and his immune system was weak, he’d caught a cold right away when the cold wind hit his bare skin, and he lay in bed sick all night. Taesup took out the warm herbal tonic from the bag Seonho passed him, opened the bottle, and gulped it down. Even though it was just a cheap tonic, he felt his body getting warmer. After he’d turned 30, herbal tonics had become the best remedy for colds. In the winter, he usually ordered herbal tonics from a Korean medicinal clinic and had them made from scratch, but this winter, Taesup hadn’t had time to do that since he was busy tormenting Lumin (though in fact, Taesup was, in the process, making himself more miserable).
“So, Mr. Taesup, you’ve got a thing for Lumin?” Seonho asked playfully.
“‘Like’? Yeah, right,” Taesup grumbled.
“Uh-huhhh.”
Taesup sipped the remaining herbal tonic sitting on the bottom of the glass bottle. The bittersweet taste spread across his tongue.
Seonho himself was in a complicated situation because of a trainee he was seeing, but it couldn’t really compare to Taesup’s situation. An ahjussi who couldn’t admit to his feelings and continued to waver… It was like watching a car crash in slow motion, and he felt bad for his close friend. So he stopped teasing Taesup and offered up some advice.
“Well, then why don’t you just tell Ma Jehyuk?”
“Tell him what?”
“That you’re sponsoring Lumin and had your fun with him.”
“But then…”
Lumin would get in trouble, Taesup thought. But he quickly changed his mind. Now wasn’t the time to be considerate. He was worried that Lumin would get hurt if he found out, but Taesup could deal with that situation later after keeping Lumin by his side. He had to separate the two as quickly as possible before their relationship got too serious.
That was the priority, even if Taesup would come to regret his actions. Even if Lumin would come to hate him later.
***
“Let’s have a talk.”
Is what Taesup said when he arrived at Ma Jehyuk’s drama filming site early in the morning and “accidentally” met him after loitering around for far too long.
Taesup walked for a while to find a quiet place as Ma Jehyuk followed behind him, and the two entered an empty set. It was a set decorated like a bedroom used by an ordinary couple. There was a dressing table, a queen-size bed, and a built-in closet supplied by the sponsorship companies. Taesup felt like a wife trying to separate her husband from his mistress. Actually, Taesup was the mistress in this scenario, but he didn’t want to think of the situation like that.
Taesup licked his lips because his mouth felt like it was going to burst with the shocking admission. He didn’t feel relaxed one bit, but he pretended to be so and sat on the edge of the bed with his arms crossed, leaning back.
He was well-dressed and his pose was practiced, but he hadn’t been able to sleep for weeks, so his eyes were lined and his cheeks were sunken and dry.
“So what do you want?” Ma Jehyuk looked down at Taesup and spoke first.
“Well, well, not even going to start off with a greeting now? What do they teach young actors these days?” Taesup said, rather childishly.
“Hello, then,” Ma Jehyuk scoffed in response.
Taesup knew he was being immature, but since things had already started off on the wrong foot, he decided to barrel forward.
“Well, that thing you asked me before. You asked what the relationship between Lumin and me was, remember?”
Ma Jehyuk seemed stumped for a moment, and then, seemingly remembering, uttered, “Ah.” He barely cocked an eyebrow, apparently uninterested in what Taesup had to say.
What the hell? Is this punk really Lumin’s boyfriend?
Ma Jehyuk gave off a considerably aloof vibe considering the situation.
“I guess I did ask that,” he replied, but the placid, indifferent expression on his face seemed to be saying, So what?
Taesup was so nervous about the bombshell he was about to admit that he was unable to maintain a calm expression. He couldn’t speak right away from the anxiety. It felt like something was lodged in his throat.
As Taesup didn’t say anything, Ma Jehyuk leisurely raised his hand and looked at his wristwatch as if bored of waiting, even though the news was clearly about his lover.
As if triggered by that insolent action, Taesup finally opened his mouth in anger.
“Lumin,” he uttered.
Ma Jehyuk nodded his head as if telling him to keep talking.
“...I’m sponsoring him. He’s being sponsored by me. Lumin.”
As soon as the sentence left his mouth, regret surged into Taesup’s chest. No matter how urgent the situation was, there were things one could say, and things one should never say. He’d made a mistake because he’d been swept away by the strange feeling that was making his chest ache every night and kept him from sleeping.
But the words had already left Taesup’s mouth and reached Ma Jehyuk’s ears. Since things had reached this point, he hoped Ma Jehyuk would simply curse him out and leave. Taesup clenched his hands. Time seemed to pass very slowly.
Ma Jehyuk opened his eyes wide in surprise for a moment, but his face soon became placid again. He took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking.
“What about it?”
Taesup had imagined that Ma Jehyuk would become enraged and storm out, or that he would be shocked and demand more details, but this sort of indifferent reaction was totally unexpected.
He stared dumbly at Ma Jehyuk, who looked down at him with an expression that said, What do you want me to do about it?
“...What?”
“What about it? It’s not like that’s unheard of for a celebrity. I don’t care.”
“You don’t care?”
Ma Jehyuk looked at him with a pitiful look, as if Taesup was wasting time discussing something so trivial.
“Yes. I love Minnie, and it doesn’t matter to me what he does with who.”
He raised a hand leisurely and scratched his eyebrow bone, seemingly unimpressed with the bombshell.
“Sure, it’s annoying, but whatever. A contract is a contract, so just finish it out and then let Lumin go.”
Taesup expected Ma Jehyuk to dash out with a horrified expression after hearing the news, but Ma Jehyuk’s face was entirely unfazed.
“But—” Taesup’s throat tightened, and he swallowed nervously.
“I guess Lumin must know you’re going around telling people about the contract?” Ma Jehyuk asked.
Taesup inhaled sharply with shame. No, this wasn’t something he could talk about. It was written in the contract that the matter was to remain a secret. And now that he’d broken the terms, there was nothing he could do about it if Lumin decided to leave him before the contract’s period ended and demanded a penalty fee. Not only that, but he’d end up hating Taesup for trying to sabotage his relationship with Ma Jehyuk.
Taesup didn’t respond, and Ma Jehyuk, understanding the situation, appeared to come to a conclusion.
“You’re total trash.”
Ma Jehyuk left the set with a scowl, as if leaving a filthy room inhabited by a filthy human being.
He was right. Taesup was trash.
The penalty didn’t matter. Taesup had money piled up, and even if he ran out, he could earn more.
But he couldn’t bear the thought that if Lumin heard about what happened today from Ma Jehyuk, he would leave Taesup without staying for the remaining contract period and despise him.
Taesup had never even seen Lumin get angry before. His body tensed up, and his face, already in poor shape, crumpled up terribly.
“N-no… Fuck.”
Why had Lumin left him? At the least, couldn’t he have fulfilled the contract period first? Taesup, who had reached the edge of his rope at the terrible idea of Lumin leaving, thought he should immediately tell Lumin about what happened today and beg for forgiveness.
Taesup, who had been sitting on the bed, jumped up and grabbed his head with both hands and hurriedly left the set. He ran as if he were being chased and made a beeline for the parking lot. He had to see Lumin’s face and apologize sincerely. But before that, he had to call him.
Taesup arrived at his car and called Lumin anxiously. His hands seemed unable to settle on any one place, wandering around the car roof, his hips, his waist, his chin, the corners of his mouth, and the back of his neck.
“Ugh, fuck. Please pick up the phone.”
Usually, Lumin would answer the phone right away, but today the phone only continued to ring. Taesup hurriedly opened the car door, got inside, and called again.
The phone rang without end. He knew Lumin didn’t have anything on his schedule today, so why wasn’t he answering the phone?
After repeating this about five times, Taesup bit his fingernails anxiously, his dark under-eye circles worsening.
“...Did Ma Jehyuk already tell him?”
His trembling words echoed in the car. There must be some reason why Lumin wasn’t answering his phone all of a sudden. And that reason was because Ma Jehyuk had already told Lumin about what had happened there.
“N-no!”
Taesup started the car with trembling hands and headed straight for Lumin’s apartment.
ST: The shenanigans continue. TY for reading.
CHAPTER 1.1
CHAPTER 1.2
CHAPTER 2.1
CHAPTER 2.2
CHAPTER 3.0
CHAPTER 4.1
CHAPTER 4.2
CHAPTER 4.3
EPILOGUE
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